Mom's Visit to Taiwan

My mother arrived from Canada on the first day of the Chinese New Year, so Matthew and I picked her up from the airport. Her trip didn't get off to a great start; she got stopped and pulled into an office at customs. We spent an extra hour waiting for her because she was being questioned. Why was she being questioned? Most likely because she has a Canadian passport but speaks perfect Mandarin (she's originally from Singapore). Basically, while traveling to a country where you know the language, don't use it; speak English. The Taiwanese' English ability isn't that great and I have found that they don't want to waste time trying to communicate. If my mom spoke English to them instead of Mandarin, they would have let her through no problem. It's an unfortunate reality. If you want to avoid any hassle, just speak English and don't even attempt to use their language if you know how.

It took forever, and even an official called me on my cell asking me stuff in Mandarin even though I don't speak it and my mother made that clear. I hate bureaucracy. Finally she comes walking through the doors and I didn't even recognize her; it was Matthew who had to point her out to me and they had never met before. We soon headed to the car for the 2.5 hour drive back to Erlin. My mom rested for the first day, the jet lag is a killer and with a more than 12 hour difference, it's hard to adjust quickly. We decided to head up to Taipei and traffic was horrendous; I'm pretty sure every inhabitant was driving northbound that day.  We got into Taipei after dinner time and got a bite to eat at a "famous" restaurant that some Taiwanese actors dine at - it's not like a Hollywood restaurant. My mom tried stinky tofu there and she hated it.

Afterwards, we hit up a night market and ate some more, shopped, and got a face threading - where they use thread to remove all the little hairs on your face, including the peach fuzz; it hurts.

Lastly, we went in for a foot massage but all of sudden my mom chickened out. Once we were almost done she decided to get one as well, so I got a shoulder/neck and arm massage while I waited for her.


My mother also got some kind of meat/leg pounding massage. The man who calls himself a Chinese medicine "doctor" used a rubber mallet and hit my mom's legs hard enough to leave bruises everywhere. It was gross looking and painful. He told her that it will help with her back pain. Of course it will!!! Your legs are now in so much pain, you can't feel pain anywhere else! My mother has become so westernized in so many aspects, but she still buys into all the silly Chinese/herbal medicine stuff. After that enjoyable and painful experience, we drove around for hours looking for an available place to stay, but everywhere we checked they were fully booked. Take note, do not try to travel without pre-arranged accommodations during the Chinese New Year.

We finally found a hostel that would let us stay the night, but we had to sleep in the office so we slept like crap as you can imagine because there were always people coming and going, or maids getting cleaning supplies, etc.

The next morning we headed to an area of Taipei that Matthew was familiar with, it is where he did a run with a group back when we first arrived in Taiwan. It was a hot day, the weather had been nice for most of the holiday week so we checked out a river. There was a suspension bridge and even paddle boats you could rent, the place was busy.

We crossed the suspension bridge and climbed some narrow, crooked stairs and found a quaint tea shop looking down on the river. We took shelter from the blazing heat there while enjoying a hot pot of handpicked tea from the mountains, it was refreshing. There is a specific way to serve this kind of tea, so it was a neat learning experience.

We later headed into the financial district and checked out some tourist spots, like Taipei 101, some shopping malls, a huge Eslite bookstore, etc.

After having fully explored the financial district, we headed back downtown to see the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a place to commemorate a former president of Taiwan. It is beautiful at night, but my camera is old and can't seem to take any good pictures. The park is free and accessible 24/7.





We then drove all the way back to Erlin for a good nights sleep in our own beds. The next day we brought my mom to the coast to see how oysters are farmed, and we showed her the biggest temple in the area, which is unfinished because they ran out of money and couldn't complete it; it's huge. We then drove onwards to Lukang to show her the old town, and this place was packed. Cars, people, dogs, children, everything and everyone was jam packed in the streets while a parade was also trying to get through. There was one interesting aspect during the parade. As a mini temple float was coming through, people would rush into the street and crouch down on the ground as the temple passed above them. Once it had passed they would stand up and bow towards the float. I had never seen that happen before, it might be something specific to whichever god that temple float was dedicated to, but I am not sure.

On another day we headed to Taichung city to go for dinner, a lot of the restaurants were at full capacity and we were supposed to meet other friends, but instead Matthew, my mother and I went for one last teriyaki dinner, Matthew's favourite; he was leaving the next day. We later met up with our friends (the ones we met with for the Moon Festival) at a tea shop and chatted for one last time together. Goodbyes can really drag on. We headed home a lot later than intended but it was a good visit. The next day I drove Matthew to the airport and he went on his way to Hong Kong and then later to China to visit his old friends.

My mother was left to her own vices for the week and once the weekend came round, we drove down to Kaohsiung. We went to the Dream Mall and I finally got to ride the Ferris wheel that is on top of the mall; there is actually a mini-theme park at the top. It pretty small and most of the rides are for children, but you get an amazing view of the city from the Ferris wheel (I had forgotten my camera so the pictures are on my mom's which I forgot to transfer). It was pretty cheap and quick to get all the way around, but my mom chickened out so I did it alone. Each car is made from plexi-glass so you get a great view, even the floor was a window.

We found a motel and spent the night there. It was a pretty fancy motel, each room had it's own private garage and a door from inside the garage to access the room. The room had its own little kitchenette, a soaker jet tub, stand alone shower with jets spraying at you from all directions; it was fancy and all for a measly $93 CAD/night.  They even served breakfast right to you in the morning. They just open your garage and place the tray on a table outside your room door, the weight of the tray pushes down on a button that lights up a sign in your room to let you know your breakfast is ready for when you wake up. The breakfast was nothing special, it was from McDonald's actually. This motel though is totally meant for couples, like a romantic getaway. The room provided condoms, lube, free porn on the televisions, and it even had a "sex chair". It's deceiving. It looks like a lazy-boy type massage chair but it doesn't massage you. It has varying speeds and just moves back and forth; it's meant to make having sex easier. As the woman, you can sit in the chair and put your legs up on the stirrups, the man kneels on the footstool and you can adjust the speed at which he enters you.

I have never seen such a chair but my mom and I certainly had a laugh. I was surprised they actually bought one for each room. It's funny how different motels can be in foreign countries.

After our night at the fancy motel, we drove southbound towards Kenting to visit the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium.








The weather in the south is much nicer than the rest of Taiwan; it's always hotter and sunnier and there's a lot less rain. From the parking lot the aquarium didn't look too bad, but once inside it was very busy. One of the first things you see is an open aquarium where you can touch certain animals, like starfish, sea cucumbers, etc. It was very fun and there were plenty of pretty fish to look at.

There are even sections of the aquarium where you walk through underwater tunnels, just like the one in Okinawa, Japan and on Sentosa island in Singapore. The one in Taiwan had a section that was dedicated to arctic animals, so we even got to see penguins in Taiwan.

The arctic section was interesting as it was pretty cold, obviously. The interesting part wasn't really the penguins for me, but watching the Taiwanese peoples' expressions and reactions as most of them have never seen penguins before nor have they ever seen snow, other than in pictures. People were squished up to the glass trying to get close and get the best pictures of the penguins. After fully exploring the aquarium, we drove all the way back to Erlin. The next day was my mom's last day of visiting, so it was mostly spent packing and taking it easy. The next morning was a pretty boring one that involved some confusion when it came to the airport service; which ended up being late and I just drove my mom instead. Now, being without my mother and without Matthew, I get to spend the last three weeks of my time in Taiwan to do whatever I want, and deal with those last errands like selling the car.

KTV for Matthew's Goodbye

All good things must come to and end, and Matthew's time in Taiwan is no different. His final visa is finally almost up and he has decided to take leave and visit his friends in China. Of course, we had to celebrate and hang out with our friends one last time. Some of my co-workers had decided that hitting up the KTV (karaoke) bar in Erlin was just what he needed, especially considering we had never been to one in Taiwan before; apparently it is a must do.

Erlin has a few karaoke bars, but one of them is bigger and more popular than the rest. Matthew had been to one in Ottawa before, and I had been to one in Malaysia before. Neither of us had experience something quite like this. It has a small entrance but that is deceiving, it's a huge complex with door after door of private rooms. Inside the private rooms, there are plush seating and we even had our own private bathroom. There's a huge projector screen and massive speakers. There is a touch screen computer where you select your songs and you can even call for a waiter to come take your order for food and drinks. Matthew was playing around with the screen and accidentally called the poor boy. All of the command buttons are listed in Chinese, but they had a pretty decent selection of English songs as well. Considering the size of little old Erlin, this place was quite impressive.

We didn't all get there at the same time, Matthew and I were a bit late. We walked through the doors and were instantly lost. We saw room #509, 515, etc. We had no idea which room our friends were in, and no one was answering their phone. A few minutes later another friend comes through the entrance and she tells us to go into one of the rooms in front of us. As soon as we walked in, I thought we had to wrong room, no one was there and three people had said they were in the room waiting for us. Our friend, Fiona, just starts eating all the food on the table and about ten minutes later another friend shows up, also having arrived late. She suddenly tells us we're in the wrong room and I couldn't contain myself, I just could't stop laughing. I had asked Fiona if she was sure this was the right room, because maybe she shouldn't eat the food on the table. It turns out, it wasn't the right room and she had eaten the leftover food of a group that had left or had gone off for a break. I won't lie, I was pretty disgusted by that. But in the end, we found the right room.

There were some problems with song selection as my co-workers tend to know more Chinese songs and we obviously only knew the English songs, and Matthew doesn't know many songs period, but he tried his best.

 Our friends had stopped at local street vendors to pick up a ton of snacks for the night of KTV.

It was a good night that ended with a sore throat and pounding ears. We wouldn't be seeing them again together as the Chinese New Year holiday was around the corner and most people would be going home to spend time with their families, Matthew would soon be leaving for China, and my mother was about to arrive for her visit to Taiwan.

Relaxing in Some Hot Springs

Matthew's time in Taiwan is quickly coming to an end. His visa is up at the beginning of February, so his tutor employers wanted to bring us to some hot springs for some relaxation, they even paid for the hotel. I took the Saturday off so we could leave early and drive to Xihu to meet the family and drive up to the hot springs area together. The area we went to reminded me a lot of Lushan (where I took Matthew for his birthday). It's a small mountain town with plenty of natural springs and rivers.

Once we got to the hotel we basically split up. We stayed in rooms next door to each other, but we didn't see them much, only for dinner. We went to the rooftop where there are private hot spring baths that each room gets to use for one hour. The hotel workers thought we were nuts as we went to the rooftop in our bathing suits and towels, without our clothes. It's mostly because it was very cold outside, but you're only outside for a mere moment, from the rooftop lobby until your private bath room (outdoors), Once you're inside your own little bath room it's very warm from the hot spring, and it's in an enclosed area. The only bad thing was that the jets made so much noise it was impossible to have a conversation and if your ears happened to be near one of the openings, you might be forced to
use something to cover it up.

After the private soak, we met up with the family for dinner. It was your typical Asian buffet. We later tried out the other hot spring soaks, the sauna, and the steam room but never ran into the family again. The next morning was a lazy sleep in kind of day, then down for breakfast and later we all checked out of the hotel and went to pick strawberries. Most things are quite a bit cheaper in Taiwan than in Canada, but strawberries are about the same price, whether you buy them from the store or pick them yourself.

After strawberry picking we headed back towards Changhua for dinner at a restaurant that we had previously dined with them at, for their clinic's Chinese New Year party. After dinner, we said our goodbyes and headed home, back to Erlin. It was the last time we would be seeing Matthew's tutor family before our departure.

Holiday?...What Holiday?

So being from Canada, all the family wants to Skype for Christmas and New Year's. They all want to know what are your big plans. The truth is...nothing. Christmas is not a thing here. All the foreign teachers either take the day off and are forces to look for a substitute teacher (so they can have the day off). It's really just a regular day. So regular, that in fact I had forgotten it was Christmas. I went into work and a student came up to me and  said "Merry Christmas" and ran off. I had given Matthew his Christmas gift early, a pair of hand knitted slippers, so I had forgotten the real day.

I did have yesterday, January 1st off. I went to work like any normal day on December 31st. The big cities throw big concerts but we had no idea. No one had mentioned we'd have the day off until the night before. No one had any real big plans either. All my co-workers had the same plan: buy lots of food, turn on the TV and watch the countdown, then go to bed. Some people left the office earlier than usual but I stayed until 9:30pm. I figured that if I finished writing my lesson plans for the next few days, I could have a real day off on new year's day.

Matthew and I don't have a TV and I looked for a live stream of a Taiwan countdown but couldn't find any. I found one that kept advertising as a "live stream on youtube", but it wasn't live. It even said in small font "on a one-hour delay". I don't know what the word "live" even means in that case. So, I found a world clock and stared at that for the last minute of 2013. Then I did some knitting, watched my own silly television show and went to bed. The next day Matthew and I went out to eat, bought some groceries and I practiced some more motorcycle driving skills.

I can now walk the bike around quite comfortably, but going backwards is still a bit awkward. I can also start the motorcycle and drive it in both first and second gear. My top speed thus far has been 13km/h. I have also stalled it on numerous ocassions while shifting into new gears. Perhaps when I return to Canada I won't bother getting another car but maybe a motorcycle instead. I think this has been the most boring post thus far, but I just wanted you to understand how irrelevant the Christmas holidays are in some countries. I hope everyone back home enjoyed theirs.

Touring with the Tutors

Matthew has a set of five children he tutors on Wendesday nights. The two families just love Matthew and wanted to meet me, so they invited us out on a Sunday afternoon for a visit to a "paper church" and then cycling around Sun Moon Lake.

On the way to Sun Moon Lake we stopped at a "paper church". I'm not sure if that's what it's actually called or if it's the closest translation. "Church" is probably the wrong word. It really looked more like a greehouse but instead of glass windows there were paper-like walls (or so we were told they are made from some kind of paper material). The building was being used more like a community centre of sorts. There was some kind of educational program about the wildife in that area being held while we were there. I can't imagine it ever actually being used as a church, and considering that they charge admission to even go near the area to look at the building I'm not sure that "church" is the right word. I apparently didn't take a single picture of this building either, sorry guys.

After that, we continued on the drive to Sun Moon Lake. We stopped at the Visitor's Centre and rented some bicycles to cycle along the path that circles around the lake. I love going on bike rides and I had been missing the rides Matthew and I used to take through Erlin since our bicycle was stolen over the Moon Festival weekend. This was the bike I got; cute, girly and it even had a basket - bonus!I suppose the only thing I was missing was the small designer dog.

In Taiwan most people work six days a week and everyone has Sundays off. As you can imagine traffic on Sundays is insane.  Any activity that is remotely touristy is dreadful to do on a Sunday but since Matthew's employers only have Sundays off, that was the day we travelled to Sun Moon Lake. I will say that cycling around the lake is pretty fun, however, there were so many people that it was actually pretty difficult to always cycle along the pathway. At some points most people just got off and walked their bicycles because there wasn't enough room to actually cycle it; people travel in both directions and it gets crowded. 

We stopped at the side of the bicycle path to take a break on the grass by the lake shore (you can see a pagoda on the small mountain top in the distance).

The path is pretty long as it goes all the way around the lake but I don't think most people ride the whole distance. There were sections of the path that wasn't busy at all and no other cyclists were in sight. The path is very nice with brick sidewalks and wooden railings along the edge of the water.

Our group also did not complete the path all the way around the lake, we only cycled for a bit and then we turned around to go back; it's more difficult to do things when five children are participating. One of the children was also very terrible at riding a bicycle and had numerous accidents crashing into the railings, stationary objects (like picnic tables, light posts, etc) and even other cyclist. I was a little fascinated with how bad of a rider she was because she was the second oldest child of the five. I understand that maybe she wasn't taught to ride or hasn't practiced, but her sister who is only 1 or 2 years older was a very competent rider, as were both her parents. I did feel pretty bad for her though, because anytime she seemed to even remotely lose her balance her dad would yell at her and at one point he freaked out when she, very slowly, hit the wheel of an oncoming cyclist - no one was hurt. It was strange to see a public outburst like that - I had only met them for the first time earlier that day as well.

We were heading back to our starting point when the group decided to pull over to wait for the girl and her mother who had been left behind. While waiting, two men on Segways drove past us. Apparently, you can rent a Segway to take along the bicycle path around the lake. I was definitely jealous as I have never tried one before and I have always been curious what it's like. Perhaps next time I'll look for the place in which I can rent one of those instead.

Back at the visitor's center, there was a group of people who were dancing on the lawn. I think there was an instructor there teaching people how to dance. I'm not sure what kind of dancing they were doing but it looked fun and they were having a good time.

There were a couple of hot-air balloons there that day which were available for a quick "ride". You could pay a sum of money to stand in the basket and take-off but the balloon is never un-tied, so you don't really travel very high nor far.







There was a man-made pond at the visitor's center and Matthew and the kids decided to play in the water. They then realized that there were some things in the water, it turned out to be tadpoles so they tried to catch some. The children really love Matthew, and the youngest girl, Joy, always wants to sit next to him and hold his hand when walking or crossing the street.

 

After a day of cycling and tadpole hunting, the gang decided we should head out and grab some dinner. We eneded up going to a restaurant that is paper themed. It's called Carton King. It's a chain restaurant where everything is made from paper. The tables, chairs, dishes are all made from paper and cardboard. It was a little neat but it seemed to be very wasteful considering none of the dishes are re-useable. They serve hot-pot meals, so you cook your own selection of items in a bowl of broth. The bowl itself is also made of a paper-material and gets all black and burned at the bottom from the gas stove. Like I said, it was interesting but I felt rather guilty knowing that all the dishes from everything I ordered would be thrown out. Even the drinks are served in cardboard juiceboxes and cups.

We headed home after dinner and hit the usual Sunday night traffic the whole way. Despite that, it was a fun day at Sun Moon Lake and I would definitely recommend cycling the path, just try to go on a weekday when it isn't so busy.

My Brother's Visit

My younger brother, Cory, lives in Malaysia; he just moved there this year but had been living in Singapore for the last three years. He had never been to Taiwan so he thought he'd check it out during a visit to see his lovely sister. He arrived the night of the same day that Matthew headed out to the Philippines. I drove to the airport with Matthew in the early morning and spent the whole day at the airport waiting around for my brother. After finally arriving home at about 1am, I needed my sleep.

Cory was kind of left to his own devices as he arrived just prior to my work week beginning. Since Matthew was out of town my brother was free to borrow our car but he hates driving and hasn't driven since leaving Canada, so he was stuck taking buses to get around during the weekdays.

He decided to check out things like the big Buddha in Changhua city. He was surprised at how odd he thought this country was. He found that Taiwan is just a little behind. He based his opinion on language. Even though English is not an official language in Malaysia, you can get by very easily with knowing only English. He was pretty shocked at how different it is in Taiwan. So few people know any English at all, and the ones who have studied English in school aren't that great at it. It's a little sad but true. I have done a lot of travelling and even within Asia I found it surprising that I country like Taiwan, which most people think are quite developped, especially in the technology sectors, aren't really with it in terms of English ability.

While Matthew was away, Cory and I substituted for one of his classes. I think they were quite fascinated with my brother as he's 6'6" (200cm) tall. The class was much smaller than normal but also a little more out of control than usual, but I had only seen them once before. I'm not sure how Matthew enjoys substituting all the time, I felt like it was just a mess. I had gone to the school with Matthew the week before to be introduced and shown around, he notified pretty much everyone with the program that I would be substituting for him. But when I got there the following week with my brother, the first question is, "Where's Matthew? Will he be here later?" It seemed like they didn't understand English at all but whenever they see a white man they're in so much awe they can't help but smile and nod which makes Matthew think they understood him. Ugh! I was so glad it was a one time thing and only two hours long. It's just a frustrating process. I was supposed to get there, go in the classroom and teach the first hour, which was essentially just a q uestion and asnwer period. In the second hour, I was supposed to show them a video and have a discussion. They had assured us the projector and computer would be working and then I get there and it wasn't. They gave me a laptop to show the video on and everyone had to huddle around it. I finally understood why some days Matthew would come home venting about how little point our jobs have here and how we should just get on a plane and go home.

His first evening here, Cory saw the garbage trucks and thought they were neat but didn't quite understand how it worked. They come every night around 6pm and play music, while people hand their bags of garbage to the garbage man at the back of the truck and he tosses them in. The garbage separation is confusing. I still don't get. I also have never seen a recycling truck but everyone separates garbage, from tissue papers, and from recycling. But I have never seen anything other than one garbage truck. Matthew and I have walked past some dumps, they're only a few blocks away from my workplace. It looked like they have people go through the bags of garbage at the dumpsite and then separate garbage from recycling, but I'm not sure.

While I was at work my brother would just walk around town and buy all kinds of food and just eat, and eat, and eat. I had bought him a bus ticket to the city and all of a sudden he was so sick he couldn't go. He thought it was a good idea to stuff his face with greasy pastries. My brother isn't as adventurous as I thought. After feeling better, he never left Erlin during my workdays. I think this place is boring so I have no idea what he did while I was a t work. Saturday night came around and Matthew was back in town, so we took Cory to the night market. My brother is pretty adventurous when it comes to food and he wanted to try some traditional Taiwanese dishes. Everyone here is crazy about what they call "stinky tofu". I've had it and it's not that bad; it tastes a lot better than it smells, but in absolutely no way would I describe it as delicious. Matthew has never had it. He can't stand the smell of it and he pretty much gags everytime we're nearby a place that sells it. My brother bought some and we sat down to eat it. He took one bite and tried to swallow but it just wouldn't stay down. Never in his life has that ever happened. I'm not sure if he'll try it again.

The next morning we headed to Taichung to catch the High Speed Rail train (HSR) to Taipei for the weekend. We left Matthew behind, he had some catching up for work to do. We checked into my usual hostel and went for a walk. My brother really only wanted to see Taipei 101 and buy some souvenirs.

We later ate some good food, drank some beer, and had some sugary desserts. We later hit up the Shillin night Market. It was pretty busy, as per usual. Cory got quite a number of looks because he looks like a gaint monster walking through the crowds of people who are around my height. When I'm out with Matthew, he seems like a giant, and he's only about 6'1", nowhere near my brother's height. It eventually started to rain so the market was dwindling. I took my brother for a foot massage, my second and his very first. For a big guy like he is, he's a big baby. He was almost in tears at certain times and even had to ask the guy to stop for a break because he couldn't handle the massage anymore. It was hilarious!

On our way home we got heckled by a fruit selling lady. I like fruit, so I decided we should get some. But then she tells my brother to try this and try that, "You like? Here." When we left I had spent $30CAD on freaking fruit! As you can imagine, most of that went to waste. Some of it was awful because some of those fruits weren't even in season.

We headed back to the hostel and I packed up my bags. I had to work the next day and Cory would just be heading out early in the morning to catch a plane. So I gave him a map and had him set up, then we headed to the train station for some last minute shopping and eating before my train arrived. My brother toured some nearby places on his own before heading back to the hostel himself. Keeping family visits short and sweet is key to ending it on a good note and he even wants to come back one day.

Siblings for Lyfe!!!

Taroko National Park

Since I wasn't able to check out Taroko National Park during the Moon Festival long weekend because of a typhoon, I decided that I would take some days off. It was a holiday here on double ten day which is October 10th (Taiwan's National Day). We don't really get any days off for a Christmas holiday, so I decided to take the next working days off atfer the double 10th day (as it fell on a Thursday), this way it gave Matthew and I a full four days to drive to the park and explore it.

I'll be honest, since coming to Taiwan and learning of things to see and do, visiting Taroko Gorge and the East coast was really all I have cared about, and now I can cross at least one of them off of my list. There are two ways to get to the park from where we live, we can either take the highway all the way through Taipei and down the East coast to get to the main entrance of the park, which is about a 6 hour drive, or we can drive eastwards and cut through some mountainous roads to get to the end portion of the park which takes about 6 hours as well. We chose the second option.

While driving through the mountains, we came across an old English town. That's not the most appropriate description of it, because it's not really old and it was not established by English people. There is a section of this small mountain town that decided to build some buildings based off of the old English buildings in England. They even called this portion of the town "Old England" but it was established in 2006. It was neat I guess. It was mostly a big hotel with a clock tower and I believe there were some restaurants there as well.

After that we continued on our journey. We decided to stop at the side of the road to take a picture of a transport truck in a ditch. The roads are tight and narrow and on either sides there are small ditches so water can run down the mountain when the snow melts. While stopped at this accident, two large transport trucks carrying tree trunks drove past us, and when we continued on our way, one of those trucks had been in an accident. It ended up in the middle of the road and an SUV driving in the other direction was in the ditch and had also scraped the right side of their car before crashing it into the mountain side. No one was hurt, but we realized that this route was going to be a dangerous one. It was just before nightfall when we reached the top on the mountain and we were above clouds. It was a pretty scene but I was freezing! Our GPS read that we were at 10,758ft (3,279m). After that, the road was downhill for a while before coming to twists and turns.

We got into Taroko park while it was dark and we drove for a little while before looking for a place to set up our tent. We found some campground areas but couldn't figure out how to pay as we couldn't find an office near any of the campgrounds. We eventually drove a little further up the road, parked our car at the side, squeezed up by the railing and slept in it. It was so dark we couldn't see anything but I could hear rushing water so I knew we were near a river. This was my morning view when I woke up: a waterfall nearby.

The next morning we headed to Taroko town. There's not much there: a hostel, a resort, a convenience store. But not far from the town there's a bridge, Pudu Bridge, that leads to Xiangde Temple. First you must climb a bunch of stairs, but from the top you can get a great view of the Liwu river that runs through the park, as well as the nearby town. Next to the Temple there is the Tianfeng Pagoda (or The Heaven Summit Pagoda). I have a strange obsession with stairs, so of course I had to climb to the very top. The view was really pretty, although the railing around the patio was low and it was very windy up there, I was afraid that if I made too many sudden movements I might fall over. Thankfully, that never happened.

Pudu Bridge                                                          Tianfeng Pagoda (The Heaven Summit Pagoda)

Interior of Tianfeng Pagoda (The Heaven Summit Pagoda), climbing to the top.

View from the top of the Tianfengt Pagoda (The Heaven Summit Pagoda), it was windy but beautiful.





We started to climb back down and about half-way there are some little outdoor restaurants and a woman there sells some herbal tea that she hand picks in the mountains. When we were sitting there a nearby foreign couple, Andy and Rachel, chatted us up. They have lived in Taiwan for quite sometime and go to Taroko as often as they can during the summer months. They showed us around some of the secret spots, like a watering hole where people go swimming and one section of it is a natural hot spring. Matthew and I had done some research and had printed pages about the park, as well as a brochure and the dedicated sections in my travel book, but none of these mentioned this watering hole. Even though it was a more "secret" spot, there was a pathway down from the road to the swimming area, as well as toilets and change rooms, so it wasn't like an illegal thing. Unfortunately, they had closed off the watering hole recently because someone had died while swimming there from  being hit by a rockslide. Rockslides are very common in the park and there are many signs throughout warning people. You can even borrow a hard hat from the visitor's office for the duration of your trip. Our two friends really wanted to go swimming, as did I so they showed us another spot. This one was totally illegal. We walked down part of a walking trail (Baiyang Falls trail), until we got to the river, then we essentially climbed down the rocks to get into the Liwu River and went swimming in it. The water was so cold, but on a sweltering hot day like that is was very refreshing.

Matthew enjoying the small waterfall and refreshingly cool water.

We left our stuff on a rock and ventured up stream for a bit, then we relaxed on some massive rocks and drank beers before heading back. I was wearing glasses, so I had taken them off and left them with our stuff because they're my only pair and I don't want to lose them (I was also hoping no one would steal our stuff while we were gone). However, I am about as blind as a bat without glasses so when we were venturing upstream, it was the hardest thing for me. People would say "Put your left foot on that rock there. See it? Step right there, it's right there!" I couldn't see anything but blue water, everything under the water you can forget about.

Sometimes the other people could see currents under the water, but I couldn't so I accidentally walked right into them and got swept away for a short distance. It was a little bit of a frightening experience, but it was very fun and exhilerating; maybe I like dangerous situations becuase they make me feel alive. On our way back, the most difficult part was getting back onto the rock where our stuff was. In the picture above with Matthew, you can see a small waterfall, the current there is really strong and Rachel fell in. She didn't look panicked and even said she would be able to get out of it. But before she could, Matthew jumps in trying to save her, only to be swept underwater. Then Andy tried to get closer to reach for them but slips and gets taken in as well. Of course, there's me sitting on the rock not wanting to even try to do what any of them have just done and on top of that I can't see anything; I couldn't tell if there were people on the path nearby that I could wave to for help either. The three of them managed to get back to where I was, out of harm's way, and we crossed the river a little further over so the current from the waterfall wouldn't be a bother. When we got to the other side, Matthew's sandals we floating in the water near a rock, he had lost them in the scuffle. He had reached out to them just in time as one had almost escaped. Other than that one minute where everyone was drowning, it was a pretty good time.

After that, we decided to go check out a suspension bridge. It happened to be right near where Matthew and I slept the night before. I thought that the bridge would lead somewhere, like a walking trail, but it didn't. The other side was just the forest, it was intriguing.

We then headed to a Jiuqudong (Tunnel of Nine Turns). I don't know why it is called that, it has more than nine tunnels and more then nine turns, so the name doesn't really make sense. It used to be the part of the highway that cars would take through the park (Cross-Island highway) but now it is a walking trail. This trail probably has the highest amount of rockslides in any area of the park. It was the reason they built the new road that goes through the mountain, as this one goes around the edge of the mountain. The rockslides were too disrupting and dangerous for vehicles, so they built the new road. There are signs everywhere on this trail telling you to wear a hard hat or to walk quickly between two points. It's not a very long trail but it was getting dark and we were all getting hungry so we walked most of it and turned back for dinner.

The old Cross-Island Highway which is now part of Jiuqudong (the Tunnel of Nine Turns) walking trail.

Walking through one of the tunnels along the trail. Being in a tunnel is probably the safest area of the trail as you aren't exposed to falling rocks as when you are in the open areas.



We decided to stay at the hostel our friends had recommended (which they were also staying at). We were both in need of a hot shower. We spent the evening drinking beers and playing cards with our new friends as the next day they had to head back to the city, Andy was playing in his band. We continued exploring the park. I wanted to hike some trails, and it was probably a good day to do that, as it was not very hot, and it was even drizzling for parts of it. First, we checked out the Baiyang Falls trail. This is the same trail where we all went swimming in the river. There was another suspension bridge on this trail; it looked a bit more modern.

Once you get to the end of the trail, there is a small barricade and a cave. If you want to see the waterfall you will have to walk into the cave, but be forewarned, you will get wet. It's not quite a traditional waterfall; you are in a cave and the water flows from out of the cracks in the rocks, so you're more or less inside the waterfall as opposed to just looking at one.

Here is Matthew and I inside the cave with the Baiyang waterfall. We both had soaked feet and were wearing our dorky raincoats. Despite the wetness, it was totally worth it.

Walking to the end and back of the Baiyang Falls trail takes about 2 hours, but it is an easy trail, mostly flat terrain. After getting soaked we decided to walk back and drive through the rest of the park and hopefully get to Hualien city on the East coast for dinner.




The road through the mountain/park is called the Cross-Island Highway and there are many road bridges. Like this one, called Cimu Bridge.

We drove through Yanzihkou (or Swallow Grotto Trail). This one isn't really a great walking path. You can essentially drive right through as the walkers just walk along the side of the road which runs parallel to the Liwu River. In the rock walls throughout this trail you can see neat little holes. It's a pretty short trail and to be honest, I didn't find it that interesting. The road is also very narrow so parking and making sure you aren't hit by traffic while walking is a bit of an annoyance.

We continued on our way to Hualien. There we got a bite to eat for dinner and afterward we got a foot massage. Believe me, after the hiking from that day, and my plan to hike again the next day, our feet were in need of some care. That was actually the first time I had ever gotten a foot massage. I had only had two full body massages prior to that in my life, one in Thailand and one in Taiwan when we were out celebrating the Moon Festival. But I had never gotten a foot massage; they don't focus on those areas during a full body massage. It was an interesting experience as I am one who is quite ticklish. I was pretty impressed with myself and my level of tolerance.  After that, we crashed in another hostel and had a pretty amazing sleep if I may say so. The next day, we headed down part of the East coast so I could get a good look at the Pacific Ocean. I have this thing with the water; I used to be terrified of it, but now I am in love with it and the sounds of the crashing waves is like a lullaby to my ears. We parked across the street from the Farglory Ocean Park (it's an amusement park of sorts) and spent almost an hour just watching the ocean. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I even spotted some crabs!

After that, we decided to double back through the park as it would be a more interesting drive home than taking the highway all the way up north trough Taipei and home. Also, this way we could stop and check out some spots we had missed or didn't have time for previously.

The park actually has only one official Entrace, which is located on the East side. So, we stopped to check out the Visitor's Centre (this is where you can pick up brochures and borrow hard hats) on our way back through the park. If you wanted to do the trails in order then it would be wise for you to begin at the East end of the park.

The first stop after the park's entrance is Changchun Shrine (or the Eternal Spring Shrine). There is a walking trail, mostly upstairs to two separate lookout points, but the trail had been closed when we were there due to recent rockslides. They had even put ropes criss-crossing down the first staircase to stop people from doing the trail. Honestly, Matthew and I waited around because we wanted to sneak in and do the trail.

It's a short trail, but like I said, mostly going upstairs until you get to the top where there is a pagoda and you can climb that as well. I've read that from the top you can get one of the best views in the whole park. We never managed to sneak onto the trail. We waited for like 45 minutes but it seemed like everytime a group of people left, another big group of people were on the way. That's the problem with the "tourist" areas, you get bus loads of people one after the other.

Afterwards, we hopped back in the car and drove past another suspension bridge but this one was really long and it looked awesome. Unfortunately it was only opened to experienced hikers and you needed a permit to cross the bridge. They even had a guard standing at the gate to its entrace checking for proper equipment and the permit.

We then drove back through Yanzihkou (Swallow Grotto) trail as the road re-connects with the West direction of the Cross-Island Highway. We didn't make as many stops or do many hikes on the way home as it was a cooler, rainy day, unfortunately. Matthew did manage to take this panoramic picture of Jiuqudong (Tunnel of Nine Turns). As you can see, they post rockslide warning signs all over the park; there's no way you could miss them.

As we continued our drive out of the park, we stop at this old rackety thing. I'm not sure how long it hasn't been in use but it was interesting. It's also a marker for a less popular hiking trail that takes a total of eight hours to hike! We didn't do it. There was a trail at the East end of the park that I really wanted to do, but because it's a four hour trek Matthew said no. I am planning to do that trail with my mother when she visits in February (except it will be much colder here). I don't think my mother and I will do this eight hour trail though, I think that is a little much; it's also located on the West side and I'm not even sure if it's technically consider to be within the national park anymore.

The drive home was filled with twists and turns going downhil and then some uphill. I'm not going to lie, I felt a bit nauseated and couldn't wait to get to the bottom of the mountain; I had my eye on the GPS the whole time reading our alitutude. We stopped in the city to get some good food and finally headed home. It was a fun filled four days and on our last day off, it was time to do some laundry, write some lesson plans and get a good night's sleep before the new work week began.

Goodbye Taroko National Park